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Florida, Missouri

Posted by graywacke on December 4, 2015

First timer? In this formerly once-a-day blog (and now pretty much a once-every-three-or-four days blog), I have my computer select a random latitude and longitude that puts me somewhere in the continental United States (the lower 48). I call this “landing.” I keep track of the watersheds I land in, as well as the town I land near. I do some internet research to hopefully find something of interest about my landing location. To find out more about A Landing A Day (like who “Dan” is) please see “About Landin above.

Landing number 2230; A Landing A Day blog post number 658.

Dan: I landed in a new state (since changing my random lat/long selection procedure: MO. My Score was 1464; it’s now 1419.

Here’s my regional landing map:

And my local landing map, showing that I almost (but not quite) landed in the Mark Twain Lake:

It’s time for my Google spaceflight in to NE MO. Click HERE, and then hit back after viewing.

I have some decent Street View coverage. Here’s one spot where I can look at my landing:

And here’s what the orange dude sees:

I moved the orange dude a little:

And here’s what he sees:

Time for my watershed analysis. Here’s my streams-only map:

As you can see, I landed in the watershed of the Middle Fk Salt River (first hit ever!). Zooming back a little more:

The Middle Fk Salt River makes its way to the Salt River (3rd hit); on to the MM (870th hit).

As you can see on my local landing map, I had a few towns to check out: Paris, Stoutsville, Sante Fe and Perry. But before I did that, I saw this on GE:

Hmmmm. Florida, eh? Must be so tiny that it didn’t show up on my Street Atlas map. But Florida was my first Google search and here’s what Wiki had to say about Florida:

Florida is a village in Monroe County, Missouri on the shores of Mark Twain Lake. In 2000, the population was nine. Following the 2010 Census, the village was reported as uninhabited.

Wow. An uninhabited village? Why does it have a Wiki page? But then I read on:

In 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) was born in Florida, Missouri. He said of his birthplace that it was ‘”a nearly invisible village” and

“The village contained a hundred people and I increased the population by 1 per cent. It is more than many of the best men in history could have done for a town.”

Oh my! I can see there’s no need to look any farther. Another quick Wiki quote:

Twain was born in Florida, Missouri shortly after a visit by Halley’s Comet, and he predicted that he would “go out with it,” too. He died the day after the comet returned.

Here’s a more complete quote:

I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together’.

Twain moved to Hannibal when he was four; so Hannibal far outshines Florida in geographic references to Twain’s life. Here’s a map (Hannibal is about 30 miles from Florida):

I bet few people realize that Hannibal, Missouri is only 30 miles from Florida . . .

Here’s a GE shot showing how close I landed to Mark Twain’s birthplace:

Here’s a Wiki shot of Clemens’ house (which is now inside the museum):

As I was researching Twain, I couldn’t help but run into his famous (and not-so-famous) quotes. I decided that this post will be dedicated to his quotes. Here is a sampling (and a very incomplete sampling at that) of his quotes:

Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts or happenings. It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one’s head.

I was sorry to have my name mentioned as one of the great authors, because they have a sad habit of dying off. Chaucer is dead, Spencer is dead, so is Milton, so is Shakespeare, and I’m not feeling so well myself.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.

The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.

The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

All generalizations are false, including this one.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.

The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.

When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.

As mentioned above, there are many more notable Mark Twain quotes. Plus, he led a very interesting life. If you want to learn more about him, simply Google Mark Twain and go at it.

As for his life, I’ll just post this paragraph from history.com that discusses Twain’s career as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi (and tells us where the name “Mark Twain” came from):

In 1857, Clemens became an apprentice steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. The following year, while employed on a boat called the Pennsylvania, he got his younger brother, Henry, a job aboard the vessel. Samuel Clemens worked on the Pennsylvania until early June.

Then, on June 13, disaster struck when the Pennsylvania, traveling near Memphis, experienced a deadly boiler explosion; among those who perished as a result was 19-year-old Henry. Samuel Clemens was devastated by the incident but got his pilot’s license in 1859.

He worked on steamboats until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, when commercial traffic along the Mississippi was halted. Clemens’ pen name, Mark Twain, comes from a term signifying two fathoms (12 feet), a safe depth of water for steamboats.

Time for some GE Panoramio shots near my landing. Here’s a lovely shot right in downtown Florida, by Mufflesrusty: